CalPal

-17-

Chapter Seventeen

Clay and I seemed to have woken up around the same time the next morning. I don't know how we got ourselves into the position, but he was big spooning me. My tee shirt must have ridden up during all the tossing and turning in my sleep, so Clay's freezing hand was on the exposed skin of my stomach. He had his head nuzzled into the back of my neck with his other arm under my neck.

"Good morning," he spoke in his raspy morning voice.

I turned my body so that I was facing him as opposed to the previous position. It was then that I realized that was probably a mistake. Our faces were way too close to each other to be platonic and I couldn't easily back away because his hand still had a firm stance on my torso.

"Good morning," I whispered, hoping that I was the only one overthinking the compromising position we were in.

"Can we turn off the AC now that you're awake?" He asked.

I immediately threw my head forward into his chest and started laughing. Then, I reached over and turned the damned air conditioning off. It felt like it got ten degrees hotter instantaneously. He started petting my hair with one hand and rubbing circles into my back with his other hand. I was just about to suggest that we get out of bed too. Shame.

After laying there for at least thirty minutes without speaking, I began to think Clay had gone back to asleep. The only thing convincing me he was just enjoying the present time was that his hands were still moving.

"I could literally lay here all day," he mumbled.

I sighed, "Honestly, same. Too bad we have to drive to Texas, huh?"

"Yeah, too bad," he chuckled.

"We should probably get up and get ready. It's a long car drive and I wanted to drive the whole way there without stopping."

He groaned really loudly in my ear, "Fine, if you insist."

Neither of us made any motion to move. We started laughing at the fact, then simultaneously got out of bed. I grabbed a bra and a white shirt to change in to. After doing my morning routine and changing, I left the bathroom and pulled my duffle bag out of the closet. I decided that staying in my sweatpants was the best move. I definitely wanted to be comfy.

"How long are we staying there?" I asked Clay who was laying down in the bed scrolling through Twitter. He didn't really have to do much as he was already packed.

"A week maybe? I have no clue honestly. It was really spontaneous. I'm pretty sure George didn't even buy a round trip. He's waiting to go back when we all do."

I hummed, "Speaking of, should we go make sure he's up?"

"Nah, let him sleep til' the last minute. It's not like he has to do much. He'll whine like a baby if we get him up too early."

"Clay, he'll whine like a baby if we get him up. Period. That's all there is to it."

"Good point."

I finished packing pretty quickly. I had my electronics and important things packed in a backpack that I'd keep in the main part of the car, then my duffle with all my clothes and hygiene stuff that are going in the boot of the car. Clay had his stuff hoisted over my shoulder while I struggled to keep mine in my hand.

We both approached George's room to see that he was sleeping. I decided that screaming would be a good idea to waking him up. George did not agree. He fell off the bed. Yeah, he kinda kissed the floor good morning. Definitely was not impressed with me. George whined about it the entire way down the stairs and out to the cars.

"No we're definitely taking mine," I told Clay as we fought over whether to take Sam or Jessica, "She has bluetooth radio."

"But she's smaller."

"It's not my fault you're built like a skyscraper. It's a seventeen hour trip, I'd prefer to have our own music to listen to as opposed to the same five songs on repeat. I swear to god if I hear Watermelon Sugar played even once, I'm yeeting us off a bridge."

"Fine, we'll take your car," he sighed in defeat. I popped the trunk and we all piled our things in the back. Then, Clay and George spent the next five minutes fighting over the front seat. I should've expected this because I'm prepared to fight George for passenger when Clay and I switch off driving.

"Dude I'm taller, I am getting shot gun!" Clay shouted.

"But—"

"No I'm getting it."

And I can confirm Clay did end up getting the passenger seat which means he was in control of the Spotify and replying to tweets or texts so people didn't suspect I was anywhere but home. Well, the fans suspect I'm in Florida with Clay. Little do they know that he's here and that we will be nowhere near here in a bit.

[mentions eating habits in the next paragraph]

Before leaving the area, we stopped at the Dunkins drive thru for coffee and food. I didn't end up getting anything to eat and I was glad Clay didn't mention anything about it in front of George. Clay's brought up my eating habits a couple times. I try to eat as much as I can in front of him when we've been around each other.

The first half of the road trip went excellent. George passed out in the back seat for most of it and just stayed quietly on his phone when he wasn't sleeping. Except for the times he whined about a bathroom break or being bored. I don't know what he expected me to do for him there. I'm bored myself, but at least driving keeps me focused.

When Clay and I switched off, I immediately climbed into the passenger seat instead of getting out of the car so George couldn't steal the seat. Honestly though, he has the advantage. He can stretch out his legs.

"Clay you used way too many emojis when you texted my mum back."

"Does it matter?"

I rolled my eyes, "I mean no, but—"

"Cool."

I groaned, "You're so annoying!"

The last half of the road trip was pretty serene since we were driving at night. When we entered Texas it had become the next day. To keep Clay awake, George was throwing out topics he found online to debate to then randomly assigned each of us a side. Clay was very compelling, so it was a toss up each time as to who wins. For one of the categories debating kids, I used the term "yeetus the fetus". I won that round.

"It's okay, you can go to sleep," Clay told me when I became more quiet. I nodded my head and rested it against the middle console.

"This is hard," I whined.

"Here, steer for a sec," he said in reply.

I didn't think anything of it and took the wheel. We were on a straight highway so I barely had to do anything to keep the car on the road. He took his hoodie off in one swift motion and tossed it onto my lap. I didn't say anything in response, just smiled widely. I crumpled the fabric into a ball and used it as my pillow. It was so much comfier and it smelled pretty good too, so no complaints. Clay had taken one of his hands off the steering wheel and started playing with my hair after that. Before I drifted off to sleep, I heard George mutter something that I probably wasn't supposed to hear.

"You guys are disgustingly cute. Just ask her out already."